A friend of mine made a passing observation on Thai culture that really resonated with me and I felt worth expanding on.
Thai people live in the present. It’s always today you will not teach. Today you will go visit your student’s homes. Never tomorrow, or next week.
Thai language has no tenses. You figure out when something happened based on other context clues in the sentence. I am often confused as to when thing are going to happen or if they have happened already. Each conversation is always a little bit like a story to me.
“And we go over there and dance.” Wonderful! That sounds great. I wish I could have seen it. Oh! It’s happening tomorrow! Great! I will get to see it.
“We eat a delicious curry with lots of great vegetables.” Oooh, man. I am excited to go to dinner with you guys, that does sound really delicious. Do they have pumpkin curry too? Oh. That was a month ago. When you went to visit your family in another province. Well. I’m glad you had a good meal.
“We take a trip.” Wonderful, I would really like to see more of Thailand and things that are important to you. I’ll make sure to get a good night sleep tonight. Oh? We’re leaving right now? Can I at least change my clothes first?
But I feel, and what my friend was trying to get at, is that this lack of tense in language pervades into the rest of life. A special day make have been marked on a calendar, mentioned in advance, memos and invitations sent out. But rarely are we, the foreigner who is so used to schedules and planners and to do lists, told of these events in advance.
Today we don’t teach.
The monk has come to talk to the students.
There is a meeting now.
Go home.
No advance notice. Anyone I know who works with children or is a parent, one of the best things you can do for young-ins is to give them some kind of preparation that something is going to happen.
We will leave in 10 minutes, so it’s time to start thinking about cleaning up.
Tomorrow is a dentist appointment.
We will be having a fire drill today.
Recess is over in five minutes.
These simple warnings, that can prevent a complete meltdown by the child, are luxuries in my world. Sometimes their absence does indeed invoke a complete meltdown.
I’ve often heard about “living for the present.” Live for the now. Seize the moment. I’ve tried. I have my own reminder of this. But I am a plan maker. I draw calendars on scrap pieces of paper. I make lists with dates on them. I dream of what I will do in 21 months. But for now, with this language, in this country, I am forced to think and be and breathe in the present. Even if it is a bit tense.